Police say Jerry Henderson shot 25-year-old Jarvis Bowden while Bowden was fighting with another employee inside the Arkansas restaurant.

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — A Domino’s employee was arrested on a first-degree murder accusation after police say he shot 25-year-old Jarvis Bowden during a fight involving workers inside the restaurant’s kitchen on Aug. 2.

The Pine Bluff Police Department said officers were sent to the Domino’s Pizza at 2300 S. Olive St. just before 7:30 p.m. that Sunday. They found Bowden lying on the floor in the kitchen area with a gunshot wound. He did not survive. Police identified another employee, Jerry Henderson, as the person who allegedly fired the shot and said he was taken into custody. The department’s current public statement lists Henderson as 42. Several reports published immediately after the shooting, including the original Law&Crime account, listed him as 50, creating an age discrepancy that has not been publicly explained.

The account released by police describes a confrontation with three workers in distinct roles. According to reports from several witnesses, Bowden was fighting with one Domino’s employee inside the business. Henderson was described as a separate employee who entered the confrontation by allegedly shooting Bowden. Police have not publicly identified the worker who had been fighting with Bowden, and the department’s release does not say whether that person was injured, detained or accused of a crime. The limited official description is important because it does not say Henderson was the person initially fighting Bowden. Instead, investigators said he was another employee who allegedly used a firearm while the fight was underway.

What led to the original fight remains unclear. Police have not announced what Bowden and the other employee were arguing about, how long the confrontation lasted or what happened immediately before the gunfire. Authorities also have not publicly described any statements attributed to Henderson explaining why he allegedly became involved. Early reporting said it was not clear whether customers were inside the restaurant when the shooting occurred. No public police account reviewed through Sept. 9 provided a fuller reconstruction of the minutes leading to the shooting. Those unanswered questions leave investigators with several basic issues to establish, including the origin of the dispute and the circumstances surrounding Henderson’s alleged decision to fire.

The shooting brought a rapid police response to a commercial restaurant during evening operating hours. Officers arriving at the South Olive Street location found Bowden in the kitchen rather than outside the building or in a parking area, according to the department. Police did not release graphic details about his injury and did not describe any effort to move him before officers arrived. The department said only that he had suffered a gunshot wound and did not survive. Local reporting said he died at the scene. The public account also does not identify the type of firearm allegedly used, say whether investigators recovered a weapon or specify how many shots were fired. Those details have not been established in the public record reviewed for this report.

Henderson was arrested after the shooting, and police said he would be booked for first-degree murder. Law&Crime reported the following day that Henderson had been taken to the W.C. “Dub” Brassell Detention Center and was being held without bond at that time. A public arrest listing also recorded a Jerry Henderson booking on Aug. 3. The police department’s announcement, however, was an investigative statement rather than a finding of guilt. A first-degree murder accusation must still be handled through the criminal court process, where prosecutors bear the burden of proving the charge. Publicly available reporting reviewed for this article did not identify a later trial date, plea or final disposition in the case.

Arkansas law treats first-degree murder as a Class Y felony. One part of the statute applies when a person acts with the purpose of causing another person’s death and causes that death. The statute also contains other circumstances under which first-degree murder can be charged. The police release announcing Henderson’s arrest did not specify which subsection investigators believed applied, and the limited public materials reviewed do not include an affidavit setting out the prosecution’s legal theory. Under the general Arkansas sentencing statute, a Class Y felony can carry 10 to 40 years in prison or life if a defendant is convicted, although the sentence in any individual case depends on the charges proved, applicable sentencing rules and the decisions made in court.

The distinction between the statutory definition and the allegations in this case matters because police have released only a short summary of the evidence. Their statement says several witnesses reported that Bowden was fighting with one employee when Henderson, another employee, shot him. It does not describe where Henderson was standing, what he saw or heard before the shooting, whether anyone else was armed or whether police believe the gun was displayed before it was fired. No defense account has been included in the public reports reviewed for this story. Without those details, it would be premature to infer a motive, claim that investigators have established premeditation or characterize Henderson’s state of mind beyond the accusation police announced.

The current police statement also differs from several early news stories on Henderson’s age. Pine Bluff police now identify him as 42, and the Pine Bluff Commercial likewise reported him as 42 in its Aug. 2 account. Law&Crime and TriArk Radio described Henderson as 50 in reports published around Aug. 3. The difference does not change the central allegation, but it illustrates why information from an active investigation can require later verification. No reliable source reviewed for this article explained whether the discrepancy resulted from an earlier police statement, a clerical error or another cause. The current police department page is therefore the basis for describing Henderson as 42 here.

Bowden’s death also became part of a broader year of homicide investigations in Pine Bluff. The Pine Bluff Commercial reported that his death was the city’s 13th homicide of 2026 as of Aug. 2. That figure provides local context but does not establish any connection between the Domino’s shooting and other killings in the city. Police have described this case as arising from an altercation inside the restaurant and have not publicly linked it to a broader series of crimes. The investigation, as described by authorities, remains focused on what occurred among the employees at the South Olive Street business and what evidence supports the first-degree murder accusation against Henderson.

No public statement reviewed for this article identified the employee who was fighting with Bowden before the shooting. Police also have not said whether surveillance video from the restaurant exists, whether investigators obtained recordings, whether a firearm was submitted for testing or whether additional forensic evidence was collected. None of those steps should be assumed merely because they are common in homicide investigations. The strongest publicly attributed evidence described so far is the account from several witnesses cited by police. Authorities have not released those witnesses’ names or their individual statements, and there are no verified public quotations from them in the reports reviewed.

There also has been no publicly reported explanation for why a firearm was inside the workplace, whether Henderson was authorized by the business to have it there or whether the company took any employment action after the shooting. No statement from Domino’s addressing those specific questions was identified in the material reviewed for this article. The absence of such information means the case should not be framed as evidence of a companywide practice or policy. The confirmed workplace connection is narrower: police say Bowden, Henderson and the person involved in the initial fight were employees, and the fatal shooting occurred inside the Domino’s business.

As of Sept. 9, Pine Bluff police had not publicly released a motive or a substantially expanded account of the confrontation on the department page reviewed for this report. Authorities have continued to request information from anyone who may know more about the homicide. Henderson’s accusation remains a criminal allegation, and no conviction has been reported. The central unresolved questions remain what caused the original fight, why Henderson allegedly became involved with a firearm and what additional evidence investigators have collected since Bowden’s death.

Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.